Binge Watch: True Blood

After Teen Wolf ended, I was in search of a new (or new to me) supernatural show to watch. It took me a while to find something interesting but I eventually found True Blood (it was on sale for an amazing price) and wanted to give it a chance. All I know about this show is that it centers around vampires and that's about it. In a way it's kind of funny, I'm going from a werewolf show to one about vampires.

Since I don't have anything to do tonight, it feels like it should be a TV night. So, in a few minutes I'm going to watch a few episodes of True Blood. I'm surprised this series only has 80 episodes, so it shouldn't take me too many days or weeks to watch them all.

Description:

Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. And while humans have been safely removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures "coming out of the coffin." Religious leaders, government officials, and vampire fundamentalists around the world have chosen their sides, but in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out.

Binge Watch: Teen Wolf (S1-5)

After watching all the current episodes of Shadowhunters on OnDemand, I was now looking for something else to watch. I wasn't necessarily looking for something supernatural but some how I wanted to watch Teen Wolf. And since the show is not on Netflix or Hulu, I ended up ordering seasons 1-5 (they were on sale). My order arrived last week, so far I haven't found time to start watching the show yet but when I do I really hope I like it. Otherwise, I've wasted my money which would really suck.

I have no idea what this show is about other than it centers around werewolves but I am interested to see it. I'm going to watch this real soon and when I do I will post my thoughts on it. 

TV Round Up: Shadowhunters (My Thoughts on S1 episodes #10-13 and S2 episodes #1-10)

I finally got caught up on watching all the current episodes of Shadowhunters. This is probably the first time in a long time that I'm actually caught up on watching a new show. I usually procrastinate or wait until forever to get caught up on a TV series or a movie. I still haven't watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens yet but I will eventually. Now lets see, here are some thoughts I had about the remainder of season 1 episodes #10-13 and the first 10 episodes of season 2.

The first thing is I'm glad they didn't draw out the Jace and Clary being siblings plot for too long but couldn't a simple DNA test have solved this issue. Is there no Shadowhunters equivalency of a DNA test available at the Institute? It's like no one had any doubts that Valentine could possibly be lying to them. He's a notorious murderer who is trying to kill all the Downworlders yet they took him on his word that he was both Jace and Clary's father.

It was easy to see that Alec wasn't going to marry Lydia especially not with an episode titled Malec. Lydia and Alec were not marrying for love, it was more for political reasons such as restoring the honor of the Lightwood family. However, the suspense of Magnus showing up at the last minute was perfectly played out as he waited to see what Alec's response would be. And what a response that was. As for the wedding that wasn't, everyone wore beautiful clothes from Alec's suit to Izzy's dress. Even Simon showed up in an amazing suit (that he borrowed from Raphael) but the showstopper was Lydia's wedding dress, just look at all the details. It's so pretty.

I'm not sure what to make of the addiction plot of Izzy getting hooked on vampire venom. I haven't read The Mortal Instruments books, so I don't know if that's in the books or not but to me it felt like a way to sideline a strong character. It seemed like they really didn't know what to do with her character in this first half of season 2 so they introduced the drug storyline. It reminds me of what the Arrow TV series did to Laurel Lance in season 2. Hopefully like Laurel, Izzy can beat her addiction and become an even stronger person and then hopefully avoid getting killed off only to have the actress return as an alternate universe version of the character. Sorry, I had to toss that in there because the Laurel Lance/Katie Cassidy situation on Arrow is ridiculous.

Anyway, I like Maia, she's a headstrong werewolf and bartender. I know going after Clary was probably not the best thing (in S2 E9) but I was so mad when Luke locked her in that storage room.

He knew she had a fear of enclosed spaces and yet he locked her in that room anyway. He's a terrible pack leader, she's right in that he cares more about Clary and the Shadowhunters then he does about taking care of the pack. Yeah, I know he used to be a Shadowhunter but he's a werewolf now and he needs to start looking out for them. I also wouldn't mind if the writers deviated a bit and paired up Maia and Jace because despite being so antagonistic towards each other they have an interesting chemistry that could work romantically. Jace is the sort of person who needs to keep their ego in check to keep it from inflating and Maia's just the girl to do it. They both have dominate personalities and I think a relationship between them would be cool, that is if they don't kill each other first.

Jocelyn's death was a huge disappointment because it had no impact on me. She was in a magically induced coma for most of the first season and prior to that and after being reawakened she didn't come off as an interesting character nor a great mom. Despite telling Clary she was going to be truthful to her, Jocelyn continued to be dishonest and misleading. So when her death occurred I was like, oh well. I feel like the show didn't do a good job of making her a memorable character. She seemed like one of those character that would have been great if the show had put in the effort to do that. They went out of their way to make her appear untrustworthy, ill prepared and a terrible parent.

I still find Clary to be annoying and she's about 98% stupidity with 2% left for rare bouts of intellect. I can't believe in trying to bring her mother back to life she let herself get tricked by the warlock Iris Rouse. Alec went along with her (out of understandable guilt) to see the warlock but while he was trying to question Iris, Clary was so blinded by grief she wouldn't let him do his job of making sure everything was okay. She even brushed aside the blood oath not taking into consideration what that really meant.

For some reason, I like Simon and Clary being in a relationship, it works and they actually have chemistry. Unlike Clary and Jace, who have zero chemistry. I do feel bad for Maureen who really liked Simon and who was pretty much used by him in his attempt to avoid his feelings for Clary. She was friends with Clary and Simon and now she's being shutout of the supernatural world these two are in. I hope the writers bring her back and not in some mean or terrible way.

As far as chemistry goes, I like how Alec and Magnus' relationship is progressing, it doesn't feel rushed. I did like how Magnus stood up for himself in the first episode of season 2 because Alec was acting like a jerk. Everyone at the Institute was doing everything they could to find Jace but he was snapping at everyone even more so at Magnus. But Magnus wasn't going to stay there and be treated poorly which left Alec to have to find him later to apologize. Alec is so romantically awkward that it's nice to see him trying to figure out the whole romance thing, he's truly new to the world of dating and relationships.

For a show I had no idea even existed (I rarely watch the Freeform channel) it's now one of my favorite shows. I wish I could say the same for the CW's Riverdale, I sort of abandon it after a few episodes. It was moving too slow for me and I found both the show and the characters to be boring. Maybe I'll finish watching the first season when it's out on DVD/Blu-ray or on Netflix but for now I'm going to pass on Riverdale which is weird since I'm a big Archie Comics fan. I guess at the moment the show isn't for me.

With that said I'm really looking forward to the return of Shadowhunters on June 5th. I want to see how the second half of the season will be especially with the mortal cup still out there somewhere and someone else now has the soul-sword. It should be interesting.

TV Round Up: Shadowhunters (thoughts on S1 episodes 4-9)

So, I'm already nine episodes in of the first season of Shadowhunters. It's been a while since I've found a show so interesting that I've actually started binge watching it. The last show I binge watched was Schitt's Creek and I totally love that show.

My opinion still has not changed for Clary and Jace, they are still dull and boring and they have zero chemistry.

There are so many things I don't like about Clary and one is how selfish she is. I can't believe she made the decision to bury Simon so he can become a vampire. All because it was too heartbreaking for her to let him die. She never thought that maybe he didn't want to come back as a monster. Her only thoughts were about how sad she would be without him. I notice that she tends to be selfish a lot and from the moment she joined up with Jace, Alec and Izzy they have been doing everything she wanted regardless of the consequences.

She is part of the reason why the Clave sent in Lydia Branwell to "temporarily" run the Institute due all the unsanctioned activity they have been doing for her. She never seems to care about anyone but herself. She has fleeting thoughts for Jace, Luc and Simon but she mainly thinks about herself, which is why she's one of my least favorite characters.

I think Jace is too blinded by Clary, all his actions revolve around her and their insta-love. I can't believe he blamed Alec for Clary being abducted which would not have happened if she had not left the Institute.

Speaking of Alec, he is so conflicted about his parents and his sexuality. And he's trying to run away from dealing with both by proposing to Lydia Branwell. It's also easy to see he has an attraction to Magnus Bane but he also doesn't want to deal with it. I'm not entirely sure but I do believe Alec smiled for the first time in the fourth episode when he met Magnus. I was like wow that's a genuine smile, he's usually so grumpy and cranky all the time. These two have an easy chemistry.

I adore Magnus he has an electrifying personality and such charming wit. I'm glad he's getting more scenes. I was disappointed that Izzy changed to try to please her disapproving mother, it doesn't seem like her mother truly loves or values her. No matter what, I think Izzy is cool and I don't understand why her mother would be so harsh on her when she goes above and beyond the call of duty to do her job.

I'm so disappointed with the werewolves on this show because they look like regular wolves. I wonder if Twilight is to blame for such lame werewolves, not since the Being Human TV series and the Underworld movies have werewolves seemed even remotely scary. Even the werewolves on the Bitten TV series look like regular wolves. Oh, I forgot even the Harry Potter movies had lame werewolves.

This show really surprised me, I'm already completely hooked and can't wait to watch the last four episodes of season 1.

TV Round Up: Shadowhunters (My thoughts on S1 episodes 1-3)

I was looking for something new and different and supernatural to watch, so after scrolling through On Demand I found Shadowhunters. I know the series is already halfway through it's second season but I never watched it. I'm glad I took a chance because after watching the first three episodes I'm liking what I've seen so far. I do wish the vampires weren't so wimpy, they should be able to put up a better fight before being destroyed.

Something I don't like or should I say who I don't like is Jace and Clary. I know they are the main characters of the show but they are so extremely boring they remind me of Twilight's Bella and Edward. There is nothing interesting about Clary and Jace that make me care about them, she's dumb and he's an emotionless robot. I don't even care that Clary's mother Jocelyn was taken because she should have been ready for this situation. I do wonder what her mother's boyfriend Luc is up to and which side is he really on. I'm on the fence about Simon, he is indeed annoying but at least he's not as boring as Clary and Jace.

There are three characters that I really like, siblings Alec and Isabelle "Izzy". He's grumpy and she's fun and they should be the stars of the series. It's so obvious that Alec has a crush or have feelings for Jace that I don't understand how neither one doesn't see it. It's not often that a character like Izzy who is a sexual person gets to be seen in a positive way. I like that she gets to express being who she is without being called derogatory names. And the third character I like is Magnus Bane. Although he wasn't shown much in the first three episodes, he's very interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him and his magic. If these three are half as interesting as they are on the show then I might be interested in reading the Mortal Instrument books at some point.

Despite a few things and characters I find irritating, I'm going to continue watching the show. It's not bad and I love these posters of Alec, Izzy and Magnus.

Binge Watch: Schitt's Creek

I have the day off and I will be spending it binge watching the first two seasons of Schitt's Creek. I started out backwards with this show, yesterday I watched the first episode of season 3 (I had taped it Tuesday night on the CBC channel because I had to watch President Obama's farewell speech) and last night I watched the first four episodes of season 1 On Demand. I will watch the rest today which unfortunately is the last day it's On Demand on Pop TV.

If you're wondering what Schitt's Creek is, it's a show that follows a very dysfunctional family who used to be rich but had all of their money and property seized by the government. They now live in a crappy small town called Schitt's Creek which they own (the father had bought the town as a joke) and living in a crappy motel. The funny thing is the town was too dismal that even the government didn't bother seizing it. As they try to figure out how to sell the town, the father Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) is trying to get back into business. While his wife Moira (Catherine O'Hare) an actress and their two adult children David (Daniel Levy who also wrote and co-created this show) and Alexis (Annie Murphy) are trying to cope with living there but also finding little ways to make a difference in the town.

This show is so crazy and the family is a mess but it's so funny. I love finding new shows and the last one I found Kim's Convenience was also Canadian. Even though the first season already ended I still have a few episodes on the DVR to watch and after I do that I will write up something for the show.

My goal is to watch all the remaining episodes today but if not I will buy it. However, I'm trying to be all frugal and thrifty and not buy everything I want so I will do my best to watch it. So at 8:30 this morning I'm going to start my Binge Watch with episode 5 of season 1. I'm going to grab me a cup of tea, sit back, relax and watch my new favorite show.

Are you watching Schitt's Creek? I would love to know what you think of it.